{"id":349685,"date":"2024-10-31T18:40:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T17:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349685"},"modified":"2024-10-31T18:40:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T17:40:20","slug":"the-g7-virtue-signals-while-china-and-india-burn-70-of-the-worlds-coal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349685","title":{"rendered":"The G7 virtue signals while China and India burn 70% of the world\u2019s coal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in April the Group of Seven (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) agreed on a time frame for phasing out coal-fired power plants in the first half of the 2030s. There was just one problem: Only the U.S. and Germany are among the world\u2019s top ten coal consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G7 virtue signaling came in the wake of the United Nations\u2019 COP28 climate summit in December 2023 and a UN warning that \u201cexcuses\u201d for failing to take bold action on climate change were \u201cnot acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What ought to be \u201cnot acceptable\u201d is the fact that, except for a few Caribbean islands, European nations already have the world\u2019s highest<\/a> electricity costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN counts as members both China and India, which together consume nearly 70% of the world\u2019s coal production. Neither is a member of the G7. Nor does the \u201cbold\u201d G7 commitment explain how their self-imposed coal ban \u2013 which they want to impose on poor African nations \u2013 even matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FutureCoal (formerly the World Coal Association<\/a>) CEO Michelle Manook mused that the G7 official communique was \u201cunclear in which they seek to achieve,\u201d since \u201cmany of the G7 countries do not rely on coal for baseload electricity,\u201d while Germany and Japan \u201chave publicly stated that they still need coal to keep the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manook\u2019s organization says that, instead of bashing coal, world leaders must embrace a balanced, pragmatic, and responsible approach to energy policy. German finance minister Christian Lindner in late 2023 dismissed the government\u2019s aim to phase out coal by 2030. Without coal, admitted Lindner, the nation\u2019s power grid will likely face serious problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, Japan, which operates the world\u2019s most efficient coal power fleet, had avoided setting any firm date for ending its reliance on coal \u2013 even as it cautiously restarts<\/a> its nuclear energy industry over a decade after the Fukushima disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s spurious commitment to abandoning coal was made as climate activists burned photos of G7 leaders whose nations were falling far short of Net Zero targets that are artificial numbers created with little regard for short-term human well-being or of the hardships of energy poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU nations are still recovering from an energy inflation<\/a> rate that exceeded 40% in June 2022, following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Many households and businesses are still struggling with the cost of energy. None of that mattered to the well-heeled, naive green activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another virtue signal, the EU nations in May unanimously agreed to leave the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an international agreement that protects energy investments. The 1998 treaty allows firms and investors to sue governments whose anti-energy policies hurt profits. The right to challenge government policies, however, covers investments in hydropower, solar, wind, and other clean energy sources as well as fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ECT, signed by 50 nations after the fall of the Soviet Union, protects European energy firms with fossil fuel assets in former Soviet states against risks to their investments and trade, such as having their assets seized or contracts breached. Signatories include nations in Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, the coal killers prefer cutting off their noses to save face the moment the Greta Thunberg brigades storm the barricades. But how can industry trust nations that spuriously abrogate contracts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, in the United States, the government that believes throwing money at a problem just announced $428 million in Department of Energy grants for 14 federal-linked projects in 15 U.S. \u201ccoal communities\u201d to advance the domestic manufacturing of \u201cclean energy\u201d products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These heavily subsidized projects are said to possibly<\/em> leverage over $500 million in private sector investment into small- and medium-sized manufacturers and create over 1,900 jobs in communities with decommissioned coal facilities. The projects are intended to address five key supply chains \u2013 grid components, batteries, low-carbon materials, clean power generation, and energy efficiency products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest subsidy<\/a>, $87 million, goes to Mainspring Energy Inc. in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to build a manufacturing facility to produce 1,000 linear generators that can run on any gaseous fuel. The DOE press release assures us that at least 80% of the 291 construction-related jobs will \u201cseek to be unionized,\u201d and that the facility will create \u201c600 operations positions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FutureCoal\u2019s Manook was speaking up for the world\u2019s poor in saying that, \u201cThe world needs wider apolitical leadership beyond the G7 to engage the Global South in investing in all technology solutions, including abated coal, to lower global emissions. If the G7 or other forums choose to weigh in on these debates, then they must adopt a pragmatic, responsible fuel and technology-agnostic position supporting all nations\u2019 sovereign rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manook went further, stating that, \u201cThese forums should recognize FutureCoal\u2019s Sustainable Coal Stewardship roadmap, which showcases the existing abatement and commercial opportunities that enable the entire coal value chain to mitigate emissions.\u201d Known technologies, she added, can abate up to 99% of coal emissions during combustion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those nations is South Africa<\/a>, where about 90,000 people work in coal mining and thousands more work at coal-fired power plants. Multiple South African communities and local municipalities depend on the coal economy \u2013 just as many Americans and British did until their governments began to wage war on the world\u2019s oldest high-energy fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even anti-coal Bloomberg admits that labor unions and communities in eastern South Africa, which supplies almost all the nation\u2019s electricity and coal, are not happy with the Europe-influenced government decision to promote labor-killing wind and solar energy projects on the other side of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africans are aware that access to electricity is fundamental to fulfilling basic social needs, driving economic growth, and fueling human development \u2013 it is the pathway out of poverty toward prosperity. Areas without high-quality electricity are home to over 8 million South Africans, and a 2020 study<\/a> showed a direct correlation between income levels and electricity access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study concluded that \u201cefficient and effective financing and investment climate alone are not enough to warrant energy security, but right policies, good governance, and institutional quality are necessary to ensure that the entire nation has adequate access to electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shuttering coal mines and closing coal-fired power plants in a nation \u2013 let alone an entire continent \u2013 woefully short of \u201csustainability\u201d in electricity access is at worst the new face of a colonialist superiority complex, at best merely a panicked response to local political pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Afrobarometer\u2019s Abel Oyuke<\/a> put it, \u201cAccess to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age. It\u2019s the light that children study by; the energy that allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It\u2019s the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs. And it\u2019s the connection that\u2019s needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy. You\u2019ve got to have power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria\u2019s Dr. Justice \u2018Mine Derefaka agrees that achieving universal access to energy in Africa is \u201cparamount.\u201d While South Africa\u2019s coal extension may seem counterintuitive to some, he adds, \u201cit is a necessary hedge to maintain stability and ensure a responsible, just transition that leaves no one behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in April the Group of Seven (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) agreed on a time frame for phasing out coal-fired power plants in the first half of the 2030s. There was just one problem: Only the U.S. and Germany are among the world\u2019s top ten coal consumers.<\/p>\n

The G7 virtue signaling came in the wake of the United Nations\u2019 COP28 climate summit in December 2023 and a UN warning that \u201cexcuses\u201d for failing to take bold action on climate change were \u201cnot acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826913,691818056,691818051,691831249,691831250],"class_list":["post-349685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-china-and-india","tag-climate-change","tag-germany","tag-group-of-seven","tag-united-nations-cop28-climate-summit","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1sY5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":386835,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=386835","url_meta":{"origin":349685,"position":0},"title":"Decline of the Great North American Decarbonization Charade","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Through ESG \u2013 Environmental, Social and Governance \u2013 mandates, the titans of global finance positioned themselves as the arbiters of corporate virtue. 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Its use in the developing countries will continue to grow in the decades to come. Meanwhile, we will see just how \u201ctemporary\u201d is Germany\u2019s existential move back to coal this winter. Old King Coal was the elephant in every COP28 meeting room\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"COP28\"","block_context":{"text":"COP28","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=cop28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-553.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-553.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-553.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-553.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349685"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349689,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349685\/revisions\/349689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}